When Oscar de la Renta co-creative directors Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim first sent Lauren Sánchez sketches of potential 2024 Met Gala dresses, many of them looked like what one would expect Sanchez would wear. “If you saw them, you’d be like, ‘Oh, that’s very Lauren’—extremely sexy, low cut,” Sánchez admits to me a few days before the event. “I go, ‘No, I think I’m going to try something different.’”
And on May 6, she did just that—ascending the steps in a strapless black velvet gown with a soft sweetheart neckline as well as mosaic pearl and mirrored appliqués that resembled a shattered stained-glass rose. (As if a Tiffany lamp was turned into a dress and given a film noir twist.) “The shattered glass disappears and reveals the black velvet going up toward her very small waist, which is a gorgeous silhouette,” Garcia tells Vogue of their design.
The dress is a custom take on Oscar de la Renta’s Art Nouveau fall 2024 collection, which took cues from Louis Comfort Tiffany’s iconic glasswork. (The often overused word iconic is apt here: At a time when European artists were considered the dominant cultural force, Tiffany became one of the first Americans to receive acclaim abroad as one of three jewelers represented at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs at the Louvre in Paris.) “I felt it was extremely unique and has a sense of femininity,” she says.
Sánchez also felt it had something else important: a meaning. “In my head, it’s definitely a metaphor for life because it’s a little bit about all your broken pieces in life and putting those pieces back together,” she says. “It’s not just a dress. It is really a piece of art.”
Will Sánchez’s 2024 Met Gala dress influence her fashion going forward? She’s not ruling it out. “I think my personal style is ever evolving. I was a reporter for a long time, so it was suits. Then I did a morning show and you dressed a little differently. I’ve always had to dress for the role I was in,” she says. “Now I’m having fun.” (Especially at the Oscar de la Renta atelier, which she says is being like a “little girl in the candy shop.”)
Finally, I ask her if there’s anything else she wants to tell me about the gown. “Well,” she says, “I think you should know my best accessory.” “Oh, okay,” I reply. “Tell me what your best accessory is.” At this, Sánchez stops for a dramatic pause. “It’s going to be Jeff!” she adds with a laugh.
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